"Hanna"

"Hanna"

22 x 28 in

Oil on Canvas

This painting was in a show I participated last weekend and finally about to be done with it.  I wanted to post it because I am pretty satisfied with the results so far.  I also wanted to get into more portraiture painting and glad how this came out.  This portrait is of a friends daughter she's such a great model, she really never moves.  As mentioned before I wanted to get into more portrait paintings, I really love painting the figure and its one area that I really want to improve on.  Painting skin tones and also trying to capture the essence of the sitter is extremely difficult.  There's so much to learn from painting figures, I'm excited to do more!  

"Cache" Art Opening...

This is the panoramic view of the studio space.

Hey everyone sorry for the long delay in posting, I've been so consumed getting ready for the "Cache" art show.  I was exhibiting along with a great painter Kyle Pettis.  It was so much fun having everyone there and meeting new people as well.  Getting ready for this show was so hectic, getting all the works framed and ready to hang was daunting.  Many all nighters trying to get the paintings just right will not be missed, but was well needed.  It was a lot fun getting ready for the show and having that adrenaline pumping, now to try to relax and get back to the swing of things.

"Bless my bloomers"

30 x 40 in

Oil on Canvas 

This is my new pinup painting I've been working for a while and was very excited to show it.  My girlfriend Angie posed for this painting.  I've been wanting to do a pin up painting for such a long time and glad I did so.  This is the first of a series of pin up paintings I'm planning to do for a one man show coming soon.

Detail of "Bless my bloomers"

"Hanna"

22 x 28 in

Oil on Canvas

This is a portrait painting I'm doing of a friend's daughter, it's unfinished.  She's still posing for us and hope to finish it soon.  

This is the layout of my area of the studio, you can see my new ballpoint pen drawing under "Ivan Kramskoy" ball point pen drawing.  I will get a better pic of the new drawing and post it soon.

With my beautiful model! Couldn't have done it without her.

I was so happy with the turn out, we went threw so many bottles of wine and just had a ball!  I had a lot of fun and also want to thank everyone for coming out, I really appreciate it.  I hope to participate in one of these shows in the near future, they are lots of fun.  Since its over I'm pretty exhausted, but have to get back to my commission paintings and also the alla prima paintings.  Till then I hope you enjoyed these pics!

"Bananas"

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"Bananas"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

This is the second banana painting i've done.  They have so much character by being bunched up together,  its to good not to paint.  The soft yellows and greens also make it a delight to try to render in paints, they can be somewhat challenging but a good learning experience.  

I started with a dry brush and no mediums for the drawing stage, I used raw umber.  Then when the drawing was completed I filled in the background with naples yellow, cerulean blue, and titanium white. Then I also filled in the base using burnt sienna, cad. orange, and ivory black for the darker values.

Then I applied the lighter values to the base using titanium white, cerulean blue, and burnt sienna.  Then I started on the darker values of the first banana, I used ivory black, cad. yellow light, and raw umber.  As you can see I'm applying the paints much thinner in this painting which allows me to have more control from the beginning.

Then I start adding the middle values after the darks are completed to a certain stage, I use the same mixture as I did with the darks just using more cad. yellow light and a bit of titanium white.  Then I added the highlights just using titanium white, I am also adding the little indents in the banana which gives it character.

Then I start with the other bananas just dabbing where the darker middle values will be, I treat all the other bananas as one section.  Then I add the darker values just using ivory black.

Then I go back to the middle values and start adding more of the lighter values, using titanium white and cad. yellow light to tie the sections together.  I'm constantly going around and fixing areas that need things nudged here and there.  Then I start with the top of the bananas the green area and add the darker middle values, I'm using cobalt blue, viridian, and cad. yellow light.

Then I added the lighter values by just adding titanium white to the middle value mixture.  This painting was a lot of fun to do especially going back and painting really thin in the beginning.  It's funny how much more control I get from just applying very thin paint in the beginning.  I also really like the look it gives when I work this way.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing, hope you enjoyed!

"Hachiya Persimmons"

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"Hachiya Persimmons"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

These are I believe close relatives of the fuyu persimmons, I was very delighted to paint them when I saw how close they resembled each other.  The yellows and oranges are richly embedded in the skin giving it certain characteristic that is challenging and interesting to paint.  

Again I apologize for not being so consistent with my alla prima paintings, I'm in the middle of commissions and getting ready for a show.  I guess you can imagine how hectic things are becoming, which I prefer to be crazy busy and hectic than not be.  I don't like it when I neglect on my alla prima paintings, they've become a ritual where I have to do it in order to improve and warm up my technique.  It's a good ritual to have!   

I started with a dry brush approach using no mediums and just raw umber for the drawing stage.  After the drawing was established I filled in the background using cerulean, naples yellow, and titanium white.  

After the background was completed I moved on to the first persimmon, starting with the darkest values first.  I used cad. red light, cad. orange, ivory black,  and burnt umber.  When I'm applying these layers I start thin and build up to the desired opaqueness and look I'm going for.  When also starting thin you also get to control the intensity of the hue, if you start with to much paint it becomes harder to control the look of the color.  Then for the middle values I used cad. yellow light, burnt sienna, and cad. red light.  

For the lighter values or highlights I just added some titanium white to the middle value mixture and blended towards the lighter values.  Then I started on the stem of the persimmon, I used ivory black, viridian, cobalt blue, cad. yellow light, and titanium white.  I started with the darker values and moved onto the lighter ones.

I then started on the second persimmon using the same mixture and procedure as I did with the first one.  

After the stem was completed I moved on to the wooden base using ivory black, burnt sienna, and cerulean blue and titanium white.  I started with the cast shadows and moved onto the middle values of the upper base.

Then I added the lighter values and also proceeded to add the darkest areas of the base.  The last pic is the finished painting.  As stated before the smoothness of the skin and complex shifts of color, made it challenging to paint.  I kept jumping back and forth with the amount of paint I should start from the beginning and experimented how it looked in the end.  I noticed for my liking I prefer to start with minimal paint and build up to the desired look I'm going for.  Instead of starting with more paint and blending excessively to get the right look.  It's hard to explain but I feel I have more control of the outcome when I start really thin with the paints, rather than starting thicker.  

"Raspberry Cheesecake"

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"Raspberry Cheesecake"

7 x 5 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Hi everyone sorry for the long delay in posting i've been really busy lately getting ready for a show coming up in a couple of weeks, commissions and also teaching has taken some of my time.  I'm really excited with this show, I'm working on paintings I've been wanting to do for a while and can't wait to show you guys when they're ready.  

I decided to paint this delicious raspberry cheesecake, it was really hard not diving into this creamy dessert while painting it.  I wanted to challenge myself with the complexities of textures this dessert brings, its subtle but very complex to paint in one sitting.  

I started with a dry brush approach using no mediums and just a bit of raw umber on the brush.  Then I covered the background after the drawing was established, I used cerulean blue, naples yellow, and titanium white.

Then I started with raspberry starting the darker values and moving towards the middle and ended up putting the lighter values.  I used ivory black, cobalt, cad. red light, and titanium white.  

Then for the cream I used titanium white and ivory black.  Again starting the middle to darker values and moving towards the lights.

Then I started on the glaze after the cream was completed using cad. red light, ivory black, cerulean blue, and titanium white.  It was a bit difficult getting the glaze to look like a glaze, I had to be very subtle between each value.

Then I started on the cheesecake going from darker values to lighter ones using the same mixture as I used for the glaze.

 Then for the bottom part of the cheesecake I used raw umber, ivory black, yellow ochre, and titanium white.  Then I started stating the darker values of the base using ivory black, and yellow ochre.

Then I added the lighter values of the base using yellow ochre, cerulean blue, and titanium white.  I really enjoyed playing with different textures, its always fun to see how far you can get pushed artistically.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing my dessert alla prima painting!

"Radishes"

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"Radishes"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I haven't painted these little guys in a while and they're always a challenge to paint, especially in one sitting.  I wanted to incorporate more of the leaves in this painting and give it a gestural quality.  It's interesting painting greens and reds together since they are complimentary colors, I like how they play against each other in this painting.   

I started with the usual dry brush approach for the drawing stage using no mediums and just a bit of raw umber.  Then I covered the background first again using cerulean blue, naples yellow, and titanium white.  

Then I started on the wooden base starting with darkest values using ivory black, cad. orange, burnt sienna.  Then for the lighter and middle values I used burnt sienna, cerulean blue, and titanium white.

After the wooden base was completed I moved onto the leaves of the radishes, I started on the darkest values first.  I used ivory black, viridian, and cad. yellow light.  As you can see with these pictures I put the darks where they are suppose to be and the also did the same for the middle values.  

Then for the lighter values I did the same using cad. yellow light and titanium white.  After the color notes are on the right spots I started to mold them and blend to the level they needed to be taken at.  Its tricky painting like this because you can easily go overboard with the application of paint and not keep control throughout.  

Then I started on the radishes and again starting with the darkest values moving towards the lights.  I applied the darker notes first and then added the middle value notes.  I used cad. red light, cad. orange, and ivory black.  

This is the finished picture, after the last pic I added the lighter values or the highlights which is basically adding the last details.  I'm really liking this technique that I'm using, it's a little different than my usual approach but it expedites the process and makes the colors richer.  It's still a work in progress and I'm excited with the direction this is going.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing, hope you enjoyed!